Let's not unleash the retake shitstorm just yet. A 170 is a great score, and OP may not be able to score much higher on a retake. If you think you can, then by all means retake, but you have a great score already and retaking and scoring lower / the same, which is a very real possibly when you're scoring that high, would not help and might hurt.

Apply everywhere except Harvard and Yale, in my opinion. And if you have an extra $170 dollars, I don't think it would be a terrible idea to apply to those two, assuming you have something interesting on your resume and some good writing up your sleeve.

CCN might be a bit of a toss up. I'd be surprised if you got rejected from anywhere else. As for dollars, you'll probably get the minor scholarships at MVP, maybe like $15k/yr, with possibly a bigger one at Northwestern (if you have WE), Cornell, or Georgetown.

as one who regularly asked this question of admit officers during my cycle when they would come to visit my school, it reportedly does at T6, especially at Y/S....a 3.93 at an ivy > a 3.93 at a T50 > 3.93 T1, etc...

FWIW: from my back of the envelope tally during SLS admit student weekend and from the subsequent "introduce yourself" listserv chain, about 60% of SLS 2014 went to a ivy/top10 UG (or top 5 LAC), about 30% went to a top 25 school, and 10% from another T1 school.

as one who regularly asked this question of admit officers during my cycle when they would come to visit my school, it reportedly does at T6, especially at Y/S....a 3.93 at an ivy > a 3.93 at a T50 > 3.93 T1, etc...

FWIW: from my back of the envelope tally during SLS admit student weekend and from the subsequent "introduce yourself" listserv chain, about 60% of SLS 2014 went to a ivy/top10 UG (or top 5 LAC), about 30% went to a top 25 school, and 10% from another T1 school.

I'm sorry to the OP for intruding, but I was wondering if a 3.93 (from a top 50 undergrad) and a 168 and 171 faces the same odds as OP.. Would this be seen as a 171 or a 170 at HYSCCN? Also, would another retake be more likely to hurt than to help?

almost nothing will give you 2 points of an lsat boost except 2 more points on the lsat. seriously though.

as one who regularly asked this question of admit officers during my cycle when they would come to visit my school, it reportedly does at T6, especially at Y/S....a 3.93 at an ivy > a 3.93 at a T50 > 3.93 T1, etc...

FWIW: from my back of the envelope tally during SLS admit student weekend and from the subsequent "introduce yourself" listserv chain, about 60% of SLS 2014 went to a ivy/top10 UG (or top 5 LAC), about 30% went to a top 25 school, and 10% from another T1 school.

Of course a 3.93 at a prestigious school is better than a 3.93 at a non-prestigious school. It also matters more in the range of the T3/T6 as well. But my point was more that a 3.9 at state is better than a 3.8 at an Ivy.

Another thing is that adcomms are fairly notorious for not being entirely truthful. I mean they don't lie, but they say things like "softs really do matter" when the reality is that of course they matter but they are very very secondary to numbers.

as one who regularly asked this question of admit officers during my cycle when they would come to visit my school, it reportedly does at T6, especially at Y/S....a 3.93 at an ivy > a 3.93 at a T50 > 3.93 T1, etc...

FWIW: from my back of the envelope tally during SLS admit student weekend and from the subsequent "introduce yourself" listserv chain, about 60% of SLS 2014 went to a ivy/top10 UG (or top 5 LAC), about 30% went to a top 25 school, and 10% from another T1 school.

I'm sorry to the OP for intruding, but I was wondering if a 3.93 (from a top 50 undergrad) and a 168 and 171 faces the same odds as OP.. Would this be seen as a 171 or a 170 at HYSCCN? Also, would another retake be more likely to hurt than to help?

Better chances than the OP. 171 > 170. A first, lower score will hurt you on in that if you are looking at two identical candidates it might be a tiebreaker. For example if you were 168, 170 I might say the OP has a slight edge on you. But highest score is really what matters.

Some schools say they average, but from my experience they certainly don't.

as one who regularly asked this question of admit officers during my cycle when they would come to visit my school, it reportedly does at T6, especially at Y/S....a 3.93 at an ivy > a 3.93 at a T50 > 3.93 T1, etc...

FWIW: from my back of the envelope tally during SLS admit student weekend and from the subsequent "introduce yourself" listserv chain, about 60% of SLS 2014 went to a ivy/top10 UG (or top 5 LAC), about 30% went to a top 25 school, and 10% from another T1 school.

I'm sorry to the OP for intruding, but I was wondering if a 3.93 (from a top 50 undergrad) and a 168 and 171 faces the same odds as OP.. Would this be seen as a 171 or a 170 at HYSCCN? Also, would another retake be more likely to hurt than to help?

Better chances than the OP. 171 > 170. A first, lower score will hurt you on in that if you are looking at two identical candidates it might be a tiebreaker. For example if you were 168, 170 I might say the OP has a slight edge on you. But highest score is really what matters.

Some schools say they average, but from my experience they certainly don't.

search for the multi LSAT threads for more, but from experience: harvard and columbia average unless there is a very statistically significant jump (7 pts or more according to columbia); stanford and yale "will look at both" (which i took to mean that they'd see which score "fits" better with your application, and more likely the higher score); berkeley looks at higher score only.

as one who regularly asked this question of admit officers during my cycle when they would come to visit my school, it reportedly does at T6, especially at Y/S....a 3.93 at an ivy > a 3.93 at a T50 > 3.93 T1, etc...

FWIW: from my back of the envelope tally during SLS admit student weekend and from the subsequent "introduce yourself" listserv chain, about 60% of SLS 2014 went to a ivy/top10 UG (or top 5 LAC), about 30% went to a top 25 school, and 10% from another T1 school.

Of course a 3.93 at a prestigious school is better than a 3.93 at a non-prestigious school. It also matters more in the range of the T3/T6 as well. But my point was more that a 3.9 at state is better than a 3.8 at an Ivy.

Another thing is that adcomms are fairly notorious for not being entirely truthful. I mean they don't lie, but they say things like "softs really do matter" when the reality is that of course they matter but they are very very secondary to numbers.

Yeah, all other things being exactly equal, an ivy ug will beat me, an average lib arts ug, but if my app had something else that was higher, I doubt anyone would give a shit about this "boost"

You should pretty much be a lock for Penn since you're there right now. Maybe get some good scholarship too. FWIW, my friend got $45k from Michigan, $30k from UChi, and ended up with $45k or something from Penn and picked Penn.

1) In terms of undergrad education - I'm at UPenn. 2) Extracurriculars - Intern at LA District Attorney's office; president of one of school's humanitarian groups (also started the group); some summer work experience (tutoring). 3) Unique points - Cancer survivor (not really sure if that really matters, but will most likely write on it somewhere within my apps). 4) URM - Nope. 5) Preferences - I'd love (extremely) SCCNMVPB. I'll probably still apply to HY, but my hopes are not too high for those.

Questions: 1) With these details, are there any changes (in your opinions) regarding my chances? 2) Does ED help?

Thanks!

All those sound good and it is all about how well you talk them up. You will have things to talk about which is better than most applicants. But, even though all these softs may make a difference and help you out or get a little more $, numbers are all important. And your number count as great for mvp and average for ccn. Take money at mvp or sticker at ccn (maybe some $). congrats.

MaxWeber wrote:search for the multi LSAT threads for more, but from experience: harvard and columbia average unless there is a very statistically significant jump (7 pts or more according to columbia); stanford and yale "will look at both" (which i took to mean that they'd see which score "fits" better with your application, and more likely the higher score); berkeley looks at higher score only.

as one who regularly asked this question of admit officers during my cycle when they would come to visit my school, it reportedly does at T6, especially at Y/S....a 3.93 at an ivy > a 3.93 at a T50 > 3.93 T1, etc...

FWIW: from my back of the envelope tally during SLS admit student weekend and from the subsequent "introduce yourself" listserv chain, about 60% of SLS 2014 went to a ivy/top10 UG (or top 5 LAC), about 30% went to a top 25 school, and 10% from another T1 school.

I'm sorry to the OP for intruding, but I was wondering if a 3.93 (from a top 50 undergrad) and a 168 and 171 faces the same odds as OP.. Would this be seen as a 171 or a 170 at HYSCCN? Also, would another retake be more likely to hurt than to help?

almost nothing will give you 2 points of an lsat boost except 2 more points on the lsat. seriously though.